Darling [Steve x Eddie]

Chapter 18

"Not your type, huh?"

Steve crouched down next to Robin's suitcase of dvds and began to flip through them.

Eddie noticed the pinch in his voice.

"For fucks sake, Steve. I'm not falling for your shit."

"Whatever."

They looked through the movies in silence after that, interrupted only by the click of the fan that stood beside the sofa.

Eddie thought about the kiss.

It wasn't like he hated it, but at the same time, he couldn't trust Steve and Steve was definitely toying with him.

He thought that after what they'd been through that morning, Harrington might be a little nicer, but it seemed like that only applied when Robin was around.

When the two of them were alone, Steve was... confusing at best.

Instead of his usual type of bullying, he now seemed to prefer working with teasing and mockery, which Eddie had trouble differentiating with flirting.

But Eddie didn't want to throw out their chance at being friends again, just because Steve made a tasteless joke.

He turned to Harrington and grabbed the boy's wrist.

"Let's just forget it," he whispered.

He didn't want Robin to eavesdrop from the kitchen, even though it would be next to impossible for her to hear them over the grind of the popcorn machine.

Steve looked up at him and paused for a moment, running his tongue across the corner of his mouth in an achingly familiar motion.

Eddie knew what that meant now.

Steve was thinking.

The buzzing in the background abruptly cut off and Robin poked her head around the corner of the doorframe.

"It worked!" she cried, energetically wiping her hands onto the knees of her pants. "I'll be back in a minute with the bowl, just gotta find some butter or something."

Eddie jerked his chin up at her nervously, watching Steve out of the corner of his eye.

"Sure thing."

Robin disappeared back into the kitchen with an excited grin plastered across her face.

"She's hyper," Eddie commented drily to break the rush of quiet that immediately stifled the room.

Steve clicked his tongue absently.

Eddie darted his eyes back to him, suddenly too anxious to wait.

"Actually, Harrington, you don't have to answer," he said quickly. "I get it, it's too awkward now, we can't be friends."

He released Steve's arm and moved to leave the room, when Steve tugged him back gently.

"No, we can be friends," he said softly. "I'm sorry for being the usual asshole version of myself."

"Not a problem, I have lots of experience dealing with that Steve," Eddie grinned.

On the inside, he only felt relief.

Crisis averted.

"Yeah, but I shouldn't have done that," Steve continued.

It might have been Eddie's imagination, but it looked like he was blushing.

"Ever." Steve looked like he was about to cry or something. "Honestly, I don't know what comes over me when I treat you like that, Eddie."

There was something about the sound of his name in Steve's mouth that made Eddie blush too.

"You know what this is reminding me of, right?" he asked in an attempt to cover it up. "We've been having a shit ton of moments like this today."

"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed." Steve laughed.

He sounded so pretty.

Eddie grinned.

"Yeah. The trailer, Robin's front door, her parents' bathroom, and here."

Steve smiled back.

"Just keeping up tradition, what can I say? It helps that I like talking to you."

This wasn't helping Eddie's blushing situation, but he took it as a win.

"So, friends?" he asked again.

Steve's smile turned into a bit of a mischievous grin.

"Yeah, friends."

Eddie had no idea what his expression meant.

"You've gotten pretty fucking mysterious, Harrington."

"I've been taking notes from the best," Steve replied, indicating Eddie with his eyebrows.

"Glad I'm a role model to someone besides Dustin."

Steve ran his fingers through his hair and then did a double take.

"Right, I've been meaning to bring that up. While I was being an asshole, you pretty much stole my son from me!"

Robin walked in with the popcorn while he was speaking and looked confused.

"Steve, you have a kid and you never told me!"